Review: Rick and Morty “A Rickconvenient Mort”

 

Overview:

 

Morty has himself a new crush, conservationist superhero, Planetina. Surprisingly, she is just as into the awkward teenager. Despite Morty’s parents and Planetina’s children’s disagreement with the relationship, they take a chance at love. Unfortunately, when it comes to love, sometimes ideologies can get in the way.

 

Meanwhile, with Rick disgruntled with his grandson’s new romance, he invites Summer to a once in a lifetime opportunity. Three planets are facing their apocalypse in succession, and they are going to party it up with the locals in their final days. It is certain to be the greatest party crawl ever, as long as they can follow one important rule, no commitments.

 

Our Take:

 

Season Five of Rick and Morty has inarguably started on a high note. The first two episodes released exceeded expectations of a show that already holds a high bar. Unfortunately, this third episode does not maintain the momentum. In fact, this individual piece represents many of the fans worst fears of the series continuing forward.

 

It is not that this episode does not uphold the high level of subversive humour and intelligent writing that we have come to expect. Alternatively, a few fun elements are directly aimed at the millennial generation who grew up with 90s Saturday morning cartoons. There is no hiding the fact that Planetina, performed by Alison Brie, is a direct parody of cartoon global protector, Captain Planet.

 

The plot plays around with the forgotten beloved character and themes in a fun and new light. For one, the “Tinateers” (Planeteers) have grown into middle age and are capitalizing on their connection to the hero for monetary gain. Additionally, Planetina’s emotional stability is something of question as her battle for Earth’s health has been pushed to the brink.

 

However, many of the more fun elements of this storyline moved quickly aside to make room for establishing a relationship between Planetina and Morty. This plot was less about making light of global warming, or crappy 90s cartoons, and more about the continual emotional development of Morty. Though, as the teenager lives through more relationships and continues to improve when it comes to talking with women, the animosity is certainly going to come to a head with his grandfather soon.

 

For Rick, unable to argue with his disapproval of Morty’s choices, he takes it out in his own unhealthy way, finding something to mate with. Going on a week-long bender is a strong sign that he is uncomfortable with Morty slipping away from him. But the way that Rick mistreats romance and love throughout the episode is more telling of his relationship with intimacy.

 

So, while this episode managed to have fun with a couple of ideas, the main concept is around character development. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But Rick and Morty has proven throughout the years that it can subtly build these relationships while telling much larger stories. Thankfully, there is a strong chance that this will be the most forgettable episode of the season, and most of the content released from now on out will hit or exceed the level of quality expected.